Ad Watch: Hanna ad questions Arcuri's record

Thursday

Oct 30, 2008 at 12:01 AMOct 30, 2008 at 4:14 AM

U.S. Rep. Michael Arcuri, D-Utica, and Republican Richard Hanna of Cooperstown are running for the 24th Congressional District seat. Hanna's campaign recently released a television advertisement criticizing Arcuri’s voting record and state contracts.

U.S. Rep. Michael Arcuri, D-Utica, and Republican Richard Hanna of Cooperstown are running for the 24th Congressional District seat. Hanna's campaign recently released a television advertisement criticizing Arcuri’s voting record and state contracts.

What it says
While black, blue, red and yellow speech bubbles with various messages are displayed across a white background, a female voice narrates the advertisement as follows:

“Why is Mike Arcuri running a negative campaign? Maybe because he says he cuts taxes but actually raises them. Or Arcuri claims he's independent but votes with party bosses 97 percent of the time. Now, the Observer-Dispatch reports Arcuri is receiving over $1 million in state contracts for property he owns in Utica. Mike Arcuri — raising taxes, voting with party bosses, filling his pockets with our tax dollars.”

The facts
“Running a negative campaign.” — Arcuri’s campaign has released five television ads. Only one of them, an ad attempting to connect Hanna to President George W. Bush’s policies, was about Hanna. The other four ads focused on Arcuri’s record in Congress and efforts to address issues.

“Says he cuts taxes but actually raises them.” — One of Arcuri’s television ads does talk about his votes to cut taxes.

During Hanna’s most recent ad, the words “Arcuri raised taxes 21 times” are displayed on the screen while the narrator talks about raising taxes.

Hanna’s campaign provided a list of the 21 votes cited in the ad. The list includes 10 votes to extend or raise taxes, six votes to increase fees and five votes against tax cuts.

The increases and extensions are all parts of bills that also address many other issues.

For example, Hanna’s campaign cites Arcuri’s vote in favor of HR 3580 because the bill increases fees for prescription-drug manufacturers.

The bill, which has been signed into law, contains other measures – including the implementation of efforts to avoid conflicts of interest and the creation of a nonprofit corporation with a mission of accelerating innovation, enhancing product safety and modernizing medical, veterinary, food, food-ingredient and cosmetic product development.

"Claims he’s independent but votes with party bosses 97 percent of the time." — Arcuri’s campaign has produced billboards, yard signs and fliers touting him as “an independent voice fighting for us.”

The congressman votes with the majority of the Democratic Party 97.5 percent of the time, according to a database on The Washington Post’s Web site. This is more than the average for Democrats and Republicans, according to the database.

"Receiving over $1 million in state contracts for property he owns in Utica." — Arcuri and his cousin, Rocco Arcuri Sr., are co-owners of two limited liability companies, CoArc LLC and Co-Arc South St. LLC, which have state contracts for local properties. Only one of the two properties is located in Utica.

CoArc LLC has a $208,500 contract with state police for the Remsen state police headquarters on Route 12 in Trenton, according to state Comptroller’s Office records. Co-Arc South St. LLC has a $950,586.67 contract with the state Department of Motor Vehicles for a property at 309 South St. in Utica, according to the records.

The total is more than $1.1 million in state contracts.

The reaction
Hanna — Renee Gamela, Hanna’s press secretary, said Arcuri has made false claims about Hanna, and voters deserve to know why Arcuri is running a dishonest campaign. Gamela said Arcuri likely is trying to deflect attention from his record of raising taxes, voting with his party bosses and enriching himself with state contracts.

“Owning a state troopers barracks as a district attorney and a state Department of Motor Vehicles building as a member of the House Transportation Committee is an obvious conflict of interest for an attorney – who, according to the canons of his profession, has a higher obligation to avoid even the appearance of impropriety,” Gamela said.

Arcuri —Jordan Karp, Arcuri’s campaign manager, said the ad goes against Hanna’s statements earlier in the campaign that the campaign wouldn’t become negative. Karp also said Hanna made statements during a debate Wednesday night at the State University of New York College at Oneonta that he would have voted in favor of some of the bills, so the ad could be used against Hanna as well.

Karp said the ad is a way for Hanna to avoid talking about his stance on important issues.

“I think it’s pretty obvious that Richard Hanna knows he can’t win by talking about what he wants to do,” Karp said.